Where does this leave the competition?

Erhm...isn't that exactly what I've been suggesting is a viable possibility? No one said anything about "right now" for the "mid range" R-300 variant.

 

Its a fact that ATI will release the Radeon 9500 this year.

It willl use the exact same core as the 9700 but will run a bit slower. By the time they release that, the 9700 will most likely be available for about $350, so I couldn't imagine the 9500 costing more than $299.

 

It wouldn't make sense IMO, for ATI to release a 9500 that only costs $50 less than the 9700. I would presume that whatever ATI releases, the MSRP will be $250 max. At least I hope so.

By the time the 9500 is released, the NV30 should either be released or on the virge of being released, so that should drive the street price of the 9700 down to sub $300 levels. (Assuming the NV30 competitive with R-300, which should be a safe assumption.)

 

Maybe ATi could use some 128MB of cheap memory like the 275MHz (17.6GB/s) and a cheaper 250Mhz core to stay in the AGP 2.0 specs and keep street prices as low as $250.

Anyone want a cheap DX9 card for XMas? 8)

 

A Radeon 9500 for around $250 in December, now that would be sweet.

 

I'm just crossing my fingers that the NV31 is indeed a low-cost DX9 part that is coming out before long This would be a very dramatic turn-around from how nVidia has absolutely failed to bring DX8 hardware to the masses...

 

The 942, 964, and 958 boards.. which are these? From context, I assume radeon 9700, radeon 9000, and radeon 9000 pro? (strange numbering system..)
According to the inquirer, the 9700 is built on a 10-layer pcb, which is understandably not making their board partners very happy..